More than 1,600 participants run through the South Valley region
Published in the Nov. 12-25, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Runners in the Morgan Hill Marathon take off from the starting line. About 1,600 runners participated in the Nov. 2 race.
“Daddy’s going down.”
That’s what 8-year-old Walker Napoli and his 6-year-old brother Hudson Napoli playfully kept telling their father the morning the three ran together in the family-friendly 5K race, which was a part of the Morgan Hill Marathon Nov. 2.
The event brought about 1,600 runners of all levels and from all over the Bay Area to Community Park where the start and the finish of the race was placed. The two Morgan Hill brothers are avid athletic competitors, and so it was fun for them to run the race with their father, said Zsanett Napoli, their mom.
“They’re involved in all the local races and the triathlons and they’re so pumped and so competitive,” she said. “Their goal right now is to beat their dad, Mike. They’re very excited. They were up very early this morning.”
This is the fifth year that the marathon, half marathon and 5K races have been held in Morgan Hill, and they are popular with local people and people from outside the community, said Tom Cotton, director at Firstwave Events, the San Jose-based firm which puts on the annual Morgan Hill marathon and other races throughout the year. The health and fitness lifestyle in Morgan Hill lends itself to making this event a success each year, he said.
“The city has been wonderful. It’s one of the easiest cities I’ve worked with,” he said. ““It’s just a beautiful place. Running out at Uvas Road is beautiful countryside out there.”
The 5K race, which was inaugurated at last year’s marathon, has grown into a popular event for families with kids. Among the young people running in this year’s race were more than 100 girls who trained in the Mini Mermaid group at local schools, said Heidi Boynton, executive director and co-founder of the Mini Mermaid Running Club program.
Sixty second grade girls from San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School, 26 girls from P.A. Walsh Elementary School, 15 girls from Rod Kelly Elementary School in Gilroy, and 19 girls from Cornerstone Academy Prep School participated in this year’s 5K, she said.
“They worked together for six weeks,” she said. “All of the trainers are teachers who volunteer their time after school. They trained for an hour and half twice a week after school and got ready for the 5K..”
Runners approach finish line. Photo by Marty Cheek
The hope for the program is that by the time the girls are in the fifth grade, they can pass the California Standard Testing for Physical Fitness criteria, she said. The girls also go through various self-confidence building exercises together.
“They also learn about self development such as learning about resiliency, how to stand up for themselves and others by learning about the Mini Mermaid and Siren,” Boynton said. “Mini Mermaid represents our internal truth and Siren represents the muddled messages both internal and external so they learn over the course of six weeks how to tell the difference between the two.”
Wearing one of the bright yellow Mini Mermaid T-shirts, Mackenzie Van Laar said she was proud to complete her first 5K race.
“I think it was kind of hard because going uphill was hard, but it was fun,” she said.
She encourages other girls to go through the program.
“Every day, we would run a little and then we’d have fun games to prepare us,” she said. “I wasn’t as good at running before, and now it’s a little easier for me.”
Morgan Hill’s The Running Shop store owner Paul Rakitin helped out with the Mini Mermaid program by providing shoes at cost to the girls participating in the program. Because The Running Shop is a sponsor of the marathon, he spent time at his booth at a consumer expo connected with the marathon that was held Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at the Centennial Recreation Center. Many local people attended the expo, despite the rain on those days, he said.
“The area has so many races year round and so many running events whether it be a 5K or a 10K,” Rakitin said. “It seems like a perfect combination of events that we have down here. There’s so many especially in the peak season from spring to November with the marathon. It’s a perfect complement to the area. It’s such an active area for running and it’s well received by the community. It’s good to see so many local people participating.”
Local electronics business Anritsu Company also has been a sponsor for the marathon for several years. Several of the employees run in the race and others help out with the aid station located near the last mile of the race, said Deborah Morton-Padilla, human resources director at Anritsu.
“It’s fun We make Gatorade and we fill up cups with Gatorade and we fill up cups with water and we got Goo packets and stand up there,” she said. “We put music like the ‘Rocky’ theme song and blast that and cheer the runners on as they pass by and we pass them water or Goo.”
Morgan Hill businesses and residents support the marathon well, she said.
“You see lots of people out there participating and it’s a great thing for Morgan Hill as well because you get a lot of people down here who don’t know about Morgan Hill. It’s a great way to promote families getting exercise and doing something healthy together.”
Kelly Ramirez, executive director at the Morgan Hill YMCA, agrees. After finishing the 5K, she said that the challenging event represents the healthy life style attitude of the community – especially with the Mini Mermaids and the large number of children running in the race.
“Getting kids engaged on a healthy activity on an ongoing basis and letting them know it’s fun,” she said. “The whole venue is so fun to be in and be a part of that I didn’t want to miss out. Getting kids engaged in this kind of activity early on is so important, especially the girls and showing them it’s good to be athletically active. They’re all athletes and I love that. You have to get them young to identify as an athlete.”
